


Blackbird

by buckyismymainman



Category: DCU (Comics)
Genre: Angst, Character Death, F/M, Gunshot Wounds, Major Character Undeath, More tags to be added, Swearing, Violence, light fluff, mentions of attempted sexual assault, slight nsfw
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2021-02-13
Updated: 2021-03-13
Packaged: 2021-03-13 20:02:52
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 5
Words: 10,296
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29407359
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/buckyismymainman/pseuds/buckyismymainman
Summary: You were once a member of the BatFam known by the moniker Blackbird.   You and Dick Grayson were close, but when a tragic accident left many members of the team thinking you were dead you went into hiding and tried to build a new life for yourself. But now Dick is back and he’s about to find out your secret.
Relationships: Dick Grayson/Reader, Jason Todd/Reader
Comments: 4
Kudos: 34





	1. Chapter 1

The rooftop was dark, little light from the street lamps below casting light this far up. She preferred it this way, less time for her prey to catch wind of her if she were up here with no light then trying to avoid the yellow tinted pools the street lamps caused.

Below her was a man stalking an instant pedestrian. She wondered why someone was out this late at night and alone no less. The city wasn’t known for being safe in the nighttime. She also wondered why the person hadn’t called a cab or hired one of those drivers from one of the apps they had nowadays. That certainly would have been safer than this.

If she was going to act it had to be now before the mugger got any closer to the other person. Swinging over the side of the building she dropped down in front of the man who came skidding to a stop. “What the fu--”

“Ah, ah,” she chastised. “There’s no need for such harsh language.”

The mugger was clearly frustrated that some masked vigilante had just interrupted his heist for the evening. He lunged for her, but in a swift move, she kicked him in the stomach and sent him sprawling backward until he hit the pavement. He was stunned for a moment before sitting up, “You’re gonna pay for that.”

She merely inspected her nails, “Am I though?”

The person who the mugger had attempted to rob had fled the scene the moment the masked woman had jumped down from the building behind them. Their phone in their hand as they dialed nine one one to alert the police of what was going down on the corner of Sixth Street.

The mugger clamored to his feet and tried to come at her again, his fist aimed straight at her face, but she was quicker and ducked out of the way. She laughed, which only spurred the man on. “Come here!” He yelled as he lunged for her again.

She jumped into the air and used his back as a springboard. “Is that really the best you can do?” She taunted, the distant sound of sirens piercing through the air. “Well it looks like our playtime is over, now be a good boy and wait here until the cops show up and arrest you.” She took his head and rammed it into one of the light poles knocking the man out.

Handcuffing him to that same light pole she took off into the night once more. She was trying her hardest to go unnoticed by the law and others around her. There was a reason she didn’t want to be discovered and had managed to protect her identity pretty well except for a few fuzzy photos bystanders had managed to snap of her.

The night was relatively slow after that as she picked her way across the city back to her apartment. She was tired and just wanted to get a few hours of sleep before she had to be at her job the next morning. Maybe tonight she could finally shut her brain down long enough to get some actual rest for once.

Doubtful, but a girl could wish.

She carefully opened her window and discovered that everything was how she had left it. Pulling the mask from her face she headed for her room to turn on the shower. Hunting down bad guys gave her a thrill like nothing ever would, but she always felt icky after a night out on the town.

Steam poured out of the bathroom letting her know that the shower was nice and warm. The hot water relaxed her muscles and she hummed in content. This was her favorite part of the evening. These few minutes to herself where she could just relax and not have to worry about anything else.

When the water ran cold she grabbed her towel and stepped out of the bathroom to finish her nightly routine. Tomorrow was going to be a good day, she could feel it in her bones.

Dick Grayson walked into the Batcave with a folder in his hands. There was a new vigilante that had popped up in Preston City, no one knew much about this new player and the only photos there were, were all blurry and dark. He wished that he could find out more about this new vigilante but it seemed he would have to go to Preston City himself and see this person up close.

“Bruce, I’m going to be out of town for a few days,” he said without looking up from his file.

“What for?” Bruce had noticed Dick come in with the file in his hands and wondered what the former Robin had discovered.

Dick finally closed the file he was holding and met Bruce’s gaze, “There’s a new vigilante that’s sprung up in Preston City. I was gonna head there tomorrow and see if I could recruit them. Maybe offer them training and get them on our side.”

“No,” Bruce shook his head. “The League and I have discussed it and we’d rather not bring in the vigilante.”

Dick was confused, “Why the hell not? We’re always looking for new members to bring in and they could be useful to have around.”

“Don’t worry about it, Dick. Just leave this one alone for now.” He turned his attention back to his computer and hoped that Dick would drop the subject.

Dick stood there for a moment just staring at Bruce’s back wondering what the hell was going on with him. Normally the League looked for new recruits, it was better if the vigilantes that sprung up were watched by the leaders than running around causing problems on their own.

When Dick saw that this was no longer up for debate with Bruce, he huffed and left the Batcave. He still had plans to go to Preston City no matter what Bruce or the League had to say about it. His gut was telling him something different and he was going to listen.

Bruce waited until he heard the doors to the elevator slide shut before he picked up his phone and dialed a number. “It’s me,” he said. “Dick’s going to be heading your way tomorrow. Be careful.” With that, he hung up and set his phone down. Steepling his fingers together he leaned back in his chair and stared blanking at the computer before him.

“How do you know Master Dick is going to be heading her way, sir?” Alfred asked as he emerged from the shadows.

Sometimes Bruce swore that Alfred had a superpower of knowing when something was bothering one of the people living under the same roof as him. “Dick is impulsive and if he thinks something is for the better good of the world then he’s going to do it. Tomorrow he’ll be heading for Preston City and I’m not sure he’s going to like what he finds there.”

She set her phone back on the nightstand and stared at the wall in front of her. This was the exact reason she had been so careful. She didn’t need him coming into her city and messing up the life she had built for herself.

“What am I going to do?” She whispered into the darkness of her room.

She could take a few days off. With Nightwing in the area, he could handle any small crimes he came upon. The city would be safe until he grew tired of waiting for her to come out. But she knew she wasn’t going to do that.

Growling she stood and headed into her living room to try and find something to watch.

Another sleepless night on the books.

_“_

_You ready Blackbird?” Dick looked over at her, his usual carefree grin on his face._

_She rolled her eyes and pulled her gloves a bit tighter, “I’m not the one that needs to be focused right now. Keep your eyes on the prize, Nightwing.” He chuckled and knew that she wanted to use his last name._

_“Focus you two,” came Bruce’s voice over the earpiece. “We can’t let Luthor or any of the others escape. Remember what’s at stake here.”_

_Luthor had banded together with the likes of Poison Ivy, Deathstroke, Black Atom, Deadshot, and Killer Frost to try and steal a nuclear reactor. The League had called in all the help that they could get to stop them before it was too late._

_Dick’s eyes scanned the road and tapped her on the shoulder, “There.”_

_She followed to where he was pointing and saw the flash of headlights in the distance. “They’re here,” she warned._

_Things hadn’t gone as planned though. There were more villains there than the intel had said and the heroes were ambushed. She and Dick were on the roof fighting off Harley Quinn and Joker when the Joker had pulled a gun and shot her._

_“Blackbird!” Dick had shouted as she went falling over the side of the building, pain blooming in her chest._

_That had been the last thing she could remember before the world went dark around her and she was lost in a sea of pain._


	2. Chapter 2

Dick’s eyes scanned the buildings surrounding him searching for any signs of movement. He was waiting for the new vigilante to show themselves. He had been in Preston City for almost three days now and there was still no sign of the mysterious stranger. He wondered if they had gotten injured or if maybe they didn’t go on patrol every night.

From the looks of the police reports though that wasn’t the case. Whoever this person was, they were very active and they left no stone unturned. They reminded Dick of someone he had once known in how thorough they were.

On the rooftop opposite from Dick, she had appeared. She was watching him, the only thing standing out about him was the blue bird on his suit. It had been so long since she had seen her friend that it made her ache. He was so close that she could call out to him and get his attention, but she clamped her mouth shut tightly.

Quickly she dropped down from the roof of the building and pulled her hood up. Tonight she was in her civilian clothes. She had known Dick was in town thanks to the call from Bruce, and she had been avoiding going out as much as possible in case she ran into him.

She merged with the foot traffic and glanced around to make sure she was safe. There was no sign of anyone else she had once known. It was only her and the strangers she blended seamlessly in with.

She glanced up once and saw Dick looking down at the crowd, his eyes scanning for something. Hiding her face again she ducked down an alley to head back to her apartment. She prayed that she would make it without further trouble.

“Hey pretty lady, you lookin’ for some fun?” The voice made her skin crawl and her eyes narrowed.

“Leave me alone, buddy. I’m not looking for anything,” she responded. She hoped he was one of the ones that was all bark and no bite. She didn’t have time to deal with this.

A hand clamped down on her shoulder and made her stop. Well wasn’t this just peachy. “I wasn’t exactly asking.”

She turned to face her would-be assailant and sneered at him, “And I’m not getting involved with you shit for brains.”

That didn’t please him. “What did you just say to me, you little bitch?”

She grabbed his arm and twisted it so that he whimpered in pain. “I called you a moron and now I’m going to break your arm and if you ever touch me or another woman without our consent just know I’ll hunt you down and do much worse than a broken bone.”

He had the good sense to look frightened by the woman in front of him. “I’m sorry,” he whimpered. “It won’t happen again. Please don’t hurt me.”

She twisted his arm further so that he was on his knees in front of her. “No, you need to be taught a lesson. Your actions have consequences and this is one of them.” There was a snap and the man howled in pain. She dropped his arm and took a step back. “I’d run along and get to a hospital, that sounded pretty painful.”

He cradled his broken arm and rushed off, not once glancing back at the woman he had just tried to assault. When she turned around to continue on her way to her apartment she froze when she saw that Dick was now standing in front of her.

He had heard the commotion in the alley below and was going to jump in and stop the man from hurting the woman, but then he had seen her grab his arm and twist it. He had dropped down into the alley as quietly as he could, neither the man nor the woman seemed to notice him. He heard the man’s arm snap and saw him go running off.

Then the woman had turned, her face still obscured by her hood. Her mouth opened slightly and her hand went to clutch her chest as if he had surprised her, which he guessed he had. There was something familiar about her that he couldn’t quite put his finger on. “I was going to see if you needed help, but it seems like you had that situation under control.” He gave her a lopsided grin to let her know he wasn’t going to hurt her.

“I’m fine,” she said curtly. She didn’t want to say too many things and blow her cover. “Thanks for the assist.”

“Do I know you?” He asked as he took a step closer.

She took a step back, “I don’t think so.”

“Are you sure? You just… you remind me of someone I once knew.” There was a hint of sadness in his tone. He wished he could see her face. It was stupid, but he could have sworn it was her even if she was dead.

“I’m sorry, but I have to go,” she quickly pushed past him and disappeared around a corner.

Her perfume lingered in the air and Dick felt his heart stop. It couldn’t be….

He stared at the photo in his hands, his eyes glued to her face. It couldn’t be possible. It shouldn’t have been possible. But here she was right before his eyes. The camera had caught her at one of the traffic lights. She was walking down the sidewalk, to where he wasn’t sure, and she was glancing over her shoulder as if she felt like she were being watched.

The photo was a few days old, right before he had gotten into town. Did she think someone from the League was going to find her? How had she managed to stay hidden for so long?

He pulled out his phone and dialed Bruce’s number. “Did you know she was still alive?” He asked before Bruce could get a word in.

“I did,” there was no point in lying to him now. If Dick knew the truth then there was nothing he could do to keep her secret any longer. “She asked the League to keep her status a secret from everyone. She wanted to just live in peace. A year ago she came to me and told me she wanted to get back out in the field, she hated the nights where she wasn’t doing anything except staring at a TV screen. I told her you would come looking into it. She thought it was worth the risk.”

“Where is she in the city? What building?” Dick had to see her, he had to see her with his own eyes.

Bruce knew that that was going to be his response, “Come home, Dick. She doesn’t want to see you or anyone. Respect that.”

“I can’t!” Dick shouted into his phone. “You saw how long I mourned for her. You knew what she meant to me. Now I find out that she’s still alive and we’re in the same city and you want me to act as if this bomb wasn’t just dropped on me? No, Bruce. Tell me where she is or so help me God I will go door to door until I find her.”

Dick’s threat wasn’t to be taken lightly and Bruce knew he would go door to door to try and find her. “She’s not going to be happy.”

“I don’t care,” Dick hissed.

“I’ll text you her address, just… don’t overwhelm her. If she saw you tonight she’ll want to run. Don’t let your emotions get the better of you.” With that, he hung up his phone and texted her address to Dick. He prayed that all went well. 

Her hands shook as she began to throw clothes into a bag and anything else that she may need in the quick escape that she was planning. Dick wasn’t an idiot, he would have figured it out by now that she wasn’t dead. He would more than likely have called Bruce and Bruce would cave and give him her address. She just couldn’t see him.

She made sure she had everything she needed before she headed for her front door, hopefully, she had enough of a head start that by the time Dick showed up she would be long gone.

As she wrenched the door open she froze in her tracks. Dick was standing there, his arms crossed over his chest, “Y/N.”

She slammed the door, but his foot caught it at the last second. She was already darting through her apartment toward her bedroom where she could make her escape down the fire escape. “You wore him down quicker than I thought,” she called over her shoulder. He was right on her heels.

“I threatened to knock on every door in the city ‘til I found you,” he responded. She threw open her window but a hand clamped down on her shoulder. “Stop running from me.”

She turned and looked into his blue eyes, so full of concern and heartbreak, “You should have left well enough alone, Dick. I was fine the way things were.”

He pulled her closer, “Were you?” He looked around her bedroom, there wasn’t much adorning her walls unlike her bedroom back at Wayne Manor. “It seems like you were just surviving, not living,” his eyes went back to her.

“Sometimes surviving is better, less likely you’ll get hurt that way,” she wrenched her shoulder free and sat down on her bed. There would be no escaping from Dick tonight or ever. He would still look for her no matter what. “Ask your questions.”

“Why?” That’s all he wanted to know. Why had she kept her survival a secret from him?

“I actually did die,” she responded. “They managed to bring me back, but I didn’t want to fight anymore. I didn’t want to be a part of the League or a part of the BatFam. I just wanted to be left alone, no reminders, no one trying to pull me back in. I didn’t want you to know because if you knew then you would be constantly showing up at my doorstep, a reminder of what I had lost.”

“Lost? Y/N, what could you have possibly lost?”

“I’m not the same girl I was when Joker shot me.” She bent her head, “They took me to a Lazarus Pit, I lost my sanity for a bit, and when I came back I decided I was done with it all. I lost a piece of my soul that day and I didn’t want you to look at the person I’d become.”

Dick knelt in front of her, “No matter what you’ve done or how you’ve changed I will always love you.”

“Don’t say things that you may change your mind about,” she said. “You’re in love with a memory of the person I once was. Just go back to Gotham or Bludhaven, or wherever you call home now. Leave me to my peace and quiet here.”

“I’m not leaving you, not again,” he grasped her hands. He wasn’t going to let her go. “I love you, I love you so much. Nothing could make me ever stop.”

Tears were rolling down her face, “You can’t know that.”

“Then let me prove it,” he challenged.


	3. Chapter 3

Dick was lying awake in his hotel room thinking about her when his phone buzzed. He grabbed it off the bedside table and looked to see who had messaged him. He was almost certain it was going to be Bruce telling him to get his ass back to Gotham, but instead, he saw Kor’i’s name.

**Kor’i:** Damian said you were out of town on a mission. Is everything okay?

He wasn’t sure how to tell Kor’i that he had found Y/N, his lifelong friend that had been murdered by the Joker right before his eyes. He wasn’t sure he wanted to tell her yet. She was still deceased in the eyes of most of the League and he knew she still wanted to keep it that way. He was half expecting her to up and vanish again, but before he had left her apartment the night before he had made her swear not to leave.

**Dick:** Something came up and I’ll be in Preston City for awhile.

**Kor’i:** Do you need backup? I can be there in a few hours if you need me.

Kor’i was a good friend, Dick hated lying to her, but he didn’t need her coming here and scaring Y/N off.

**Dick:** I can handle things here. Just stay with the Titans.

**Kor’i:** All right, just call if you need me.

He shut his phone off and went back to staring at the ceiling wondering what he should do now. Y/N was adamant about staying in the shadows and operating as she had been since her death. She didn’t feel like she was worthy enough to come back out into the light. Whatever she had done after she had been reawakened from the Lazarus Pit had messed with her.

He was going to get to the bottom of this and try to help her work through whatever trauma she was still holding onto. He got up and got ready for the day. He wasn’t sure where she was going to be today, but he didn’t want her to be alone.

“What do you mean he just showed up out of the blue?” Jason was on the phone with Y/N as she punched away at one of the punching bags in her apartment. “Did Bruce tell him?”

Y/N and Jason were in similar situations. They had both been killed by the Joker and resurrected in the Lazarus Pit. Jason, however, had returned to the fold in a sense rather than staying in the shadows as she had. Though she had chosen to reach out to Jason after her sanity had come back because she needed someone to talk to that had been through the same thing she had.

“Bruce didn’t tell him where I was, Dick figured that out all on his own. But once he discovered me, he managed to pry the truth out of Bruce.” She threw another punch that managed to knock the punching bag off its hook and send it flying across the room. “Fuck,” she cursed.

“Destroy another punching bag?” Jason asked in a teasing tone.

“Shut up, Todd,” she hissed. “You would think I would be better at controlling the super strength by now.”

Jason was quiet for a moment, “Maybe you should leave Preston for a while and come stay with me. I can keep Dick off your scent for a bit and you can get used to the idea that he knows you’re still alive.”

“He said he loved me,” she whispered.

Jason sat up in his chair and nearly spit out his coffee, “He what?!”

Y/N felt like putting her fist through a wall, “He told me that he loved me and nothing could ever change his mind about that. I told him that he was in love with a memory of me, but he doesn’t want to believe that. He wants to think that he can love this newer, broken version of me.”

Jason knew that when Y/N had died she and Dick had grown closer and that there was more to their relationship than friendship. Dick had never gotten the chance to tell her that he was in love with her before she died and then went into hiding. Y/N had never really spoken of her relationship with Dick, just comments here and there. The memories tended to be too painful for her.

“Do you still love him?” Jason wasn’t sure if that would get a response, but he thought he should at least see what her response would be.

“You know what? I’ll be at your place in a few hours,” she hit the end button on her phone and went to get in the shower. 

The warm spray of water against her skin helped relieve some of the tension in her muscles as she went through the habitual routine. It was familiar and comforting when her mind was a jumbled mess of thoughts. She needed to get away from Preston and Dick for a while and just clear her head. Staying with Jason wasn’t the best idea, but he was all she had right now.

She would suck it up for at least a week and see if that helped.

She dressed and packed a bag with the essentials. She jotted down a note to Dick because he would undoubtedly be by to check on her and when he discovered she wasn’t there he would break in to find clues. Then headed to the train station downtown to catch the first train to Gotham.

When the train began to move she put her earphones in and listened to music that helped soothe her restless soul and watched as the city passed her by. Dick was out there somewhere looking for her, hoping that he could bring her back.

But she was a lost cause and she hoped that he could see that.

Dick knocked on Y/N’s door an hour after she had gotten on the train. He hadn’t wanted to go over to her apartment too early, but he couldn’t wait any longer. He wanted to continue their conversation from the night before and hopefully talk about other things as well. He didn’t want to focus on all the bad that had happened since they had last seen one another, he wanted to know about the good as well.

There was no answer the second time he knocked and dread settled in the pit of his stomach. Why wasn’t she answering the door?

He pulled out his lock picking set and managed to get the door open. The apartment was quiet as he pushed the door shut behind him. “Y/N?” There was no response as he moved deeper into the apartment. 

He noticed the punching bag laying on the floor, sand spilling out of it, and then headed for her room. Lying on her bed as a single sheet of paper. He picked it up with trembling fingers and read the two words that made his heartbreak.

_I’m sorry._

She had left and it was his fault. He had pushed her to leave because he had scared her by discovering where she was. He sat down on her bed just staring at the two words written on the sheet of paper.

Y/N stepped off the train and saw Jason waving at her from down the platform. She smiled and ran toward him, throwing her arms around him. Sometimes Jason was the only thing that managed to make her smile. “Hey Blackbird,” he whispered against her ear.

She shoved him, “Shut up, you know I don’t go by that anymore.”

“Yeah what is that pretentious name the media gave you? Phantom?” He slung his arm over her shoulders and began steering her toward his motorcycle. “I’m pretty sure you could come up with something better.”

“Having a name implies that I’m a superhero, and I’m not. I’m just a concerned citizen,” she shot back. 

Jason smirked at her, “Concerned citizen my ass, you just like the thrill of kicking the ass of men twice your size and laughing as the cops and media sit back scratching their heads about who the hell you are and if they should consider you a hero or a menace.”

“Oh, I’m definitely a menace,” she said with a nod to her head. “There’s no room for heroes in my life.”

“You wound me,” Jason said with mock hurt. “Am I not a hero?”

“More like a major pain in my ass,” she poked him in the ribs. 

Jason pouted and said, “If I had known you were going to be so mean to me then I never would have agreed to let you stay with me while you get your shit together.”

“You’re a dick, you know that Todd?” She said as she placed her bag on the back of his motorcycle and grabbed the helmet from his hands.

“You wouldn’t have me any other way,” he said as he climbed onto his bike and waited for her to join him. When she had her arms wrapped securely around him he took off, zooming through the streets and heading to his small apartment in the east end. They managed to make it without any accidents and Jason led her up to his apartment. “Home sweet home,” he pushed open the door revealing his place.

It was surprisingly cleaner than she thought it would be.

“Aw Jay, did you clean for me?” She sauntered into the home and tossed her bag on the couch. “Because I’m pretty sure Alfred was always getting on you for having a messy room when we were teenagers.”

Y/N wasn’t an official adoptee of Bruce Wayne. She had been friends with Barbara and then the others when she learned their secret. She had a room at Wayne Manor for those nights when she couldn’t go home because of the nighttime activities. It worked out okay, her parents were never really home to begin with and they never paid much attention to what she did as long as she wasn’t arrested.

A blessing and a curse.

“Hey, a man can change his ways,” he grabbed a bottle of water out of the refrigerator and tossed it to her. “Are you hungry?”

“I could eat,” she shrugged. Her phone lit up and she saw that it was Bruce calling. She held her fingers to her lips and answered, “Hey Bruce.”

“Where are you?” He asked.

She sighed, Dick must have called him. “If I tell you then will you promise not to tell Dick?”

“Where are you?” He repeated his question.

She felt a little bit of anger bubble up inside her, “You don’t get to demand things from me anymore Bruce. I’m not one of your kids and I’ve been doing fine on my own for a while now. I’m safe and okay, I’m not gonna go on a murder spree if that’s what you’re worried about. I just need some time.” She hung up the phone and turned it off. “God, I forgot how annoying he can be.”

Jason came over and wrapped his arms around her, “Just stay calm. Everything will be okay. You’ll stay here for a bit, relax, get your head on straight, and then head back to Preston to be your badass self again.”

“Maybe I won’t go back to Preston,” she said as she looked up at him. “Maybe I’ll go to France or Germany. Somewhere else that isn’t here.”

“Well if you go overseas then how am I ever going to see you?”

She rolled her eyes, “I’m sure you’ll figure out a way.” She patted his chest and pulled away from him, “Now what about pancakes? There’s that place downtown that I loved as a kid that makes those birthday cake pancakes.” She hummed, “I would kill for some of those right now.”

“And here I thought you weren’t gonna go on a murder spree after promising Bruce you wouldn’t,” Jason headed for the door.

“Hey, no one gets between me and my pancakes,” she said as he opened his door.

He was smiling as he shook his head, “I’ll be back. Just don’t trash the place while I’m out.”

“No promises,” she said in a singsong voice as the door closed behind him.


	4. Chapter 4

Dick drove back to Gotham with his blood pounding in his ears. Would she go back to Preston when she felt like it was safe to return? Would she even stay there once she did go back if she went back at all?

He thought that he had gotten through to her and convinced her to stay with him, to let him prove that he would love her no matter what the circumstances were. He should have listened to Bruce and just stayed away, she would still be in Preston and he would know she was safe.

Now he had no idea where she had run off too and if she were even safe.

He slammed the door to Wayne Manor closed as soon as he got there and headed up to his room. Alfred watched him go with a mournful look on his face. He knew how much Y/N had meant to Dick and how long it had taken him to get over her supposed passing, but now he knew she was alive and she had once again runoff.

Bruce came up as soon as he knew that Dick was back and stood in his doorway. “If you’re here to tell me ‘I told you so’ then I would really appreciate it if you didn’t,” he glanced over his shoulder as he threw some clothes into a bag.

“I’m not, I came to see how you were doing. I know these past few days couldn’t have been easy. Finding Y/N and then losing her again. I know how much she meant to you,” Bruce said. Even though he had predicted this outcome he knew that it wasn’t Dick’s fault for wanting to see her again.

“Yeah the sympathy card isn’t helping either,” Dick seethed. He didn’t want Bruce’s pity right now. He just wanted to be left alone. “What do you want?”

Bruce hesitated and wondered if he should tell Dick this or not. Thinking there was nothing else to lose he said, “She’s safe. I called her to see if I could find out where she had gone, but she wouldn’t tell me.”

“Could you hear anything? Was she somewhere public?” Any information he could get out of Bruce about where she had gone would make him feel better.

“It was quiet so she’s probably settled in somewhere. That’s all I know and I think you need to let her come back on her own terms or reach out to us if she wishes to speak with anyone. Y/N isn’t stupid and she’s going to be more cautious now in case you’re still looking for her.”

Dick angrily shoved some more of his things into his bag. Of course, this was his fault. She’d still be in Preston if it hadn’t been for him. “Well, she doesn’t have to worry about me looking for her because I’m heading to San Francisco for a little while and spend some time with the Titans.” Dick slung his bag over his shoulder. “If she calls again just tell her that I’m there and that I said I was sorry if I pushed her too hard. And that I miss her and love her no matter what.”

“All right,” it was the least Bruce could do.

Dick sidestepped him and headed back out to his motorcycle so he could catch a train to San Francisco to just get away from it all for a bit. Bruce watched from the window as Dick drove away. He wondered if he should call Y/N and if Dick was telling the truth. Was he really going to stop looking? Bruce didn’t think so. He would leave her be for now, but as soon as he had cooled down he would go looking for her again.

“Master Bruce, I’ve located her,” Alfred said. “She’s with Jason.”

“Thank you, Alfred,” Bruce said without turning away from the window.

Y/N had her head resting on Jason’s lap as they watched a mind-numbing movie together. It was only her second day away from Preston and she was bored. “Is there anything else we can do in this hell hole of an apartment besides watching your shitty taste in movies?”

Jason scoffed, “Do you kiss your friends with that mouth?”

She chuckled and sat up, planting kisses all over Jason’s face until he was squirming away from her. “Yep!” She said finally once she was satisfied that he had been tortured enough.

“Weirdo,” he said as he scrubbed his face with his hands.

“Prick,” she said back as she blew a kiss at him and stood to get a beer out of the refrigerator. “Seriously though, can we do anything else?”

He looked at her over the back of the couch, “You could go on patrol with me.”

She scrunched up her nose, “I hate patrolling with you.”

He stuck his tongue out at her, “And you are just a ray of sunshine to be around twenty-four seven.”

“Fine then I’ll just go back to Preston and then jet-set off somewhere else in the world and never speak to you again.” She took the top of her beer off with the side of the counter.

“You wouldn’t dare,” Jason said with narrowed eyes.

“Try me,” she shot back.

Jason jumped over the back of the couch and pinned her against the counter, “You’re not leaving me again, Blackbird.”

“I hate that name,” she said halfheartedly.

“Do you now?” He whispered, a smirk on his face as he looked down at her.

A phone started ringing and broke the moment the two of them were sharing with one another. Jason backed away and picked up his phone, “Hey Bruce.” He paused and then said, “What makes you think she’s with me?” Another pause and Y/N held her breath. “He what?!” She bolted for the bedroom where her things were and began to pack, but Jason was there, his hand gripping her wrist forcing her to stop. “Yeah, I’ll let her know.” He hung up and turned to look at her scared expression, “He left Gotham. Dick is on his way to the other side of the country right now.”

That news shocked her, “What?”

“Bruce told me to tell you that Dick left last night for San Francisco, he’s going to stay with the Titans for a bit, try to get you out of his head. He also told Bruce to tell you that he’s sorry and that he’ll still love you no matter what.”

Y/N slowly sat down on the bed and looked up at Jason who had let go of her wrist. “I guess that really does mean I can go back to Preston.”

“Do you want to?” Jason secretly hoped that she would say no. For a selfish second, he wanted her to say that she wanted to stay with him.

“I don’t know,” she answered honestly. She loved her time with Jason. He made her feel safe and she actually felt like herself rather than a shell of a person she used to be. He helped her in more ways than one.

“Why don’t you take the night to think about it and then in the morning we can decide if you want to go back or stay a little longer.” He glanced at the clock on the wall and saw that it was almost ten. “In the meantime, I was serious about patrol, I need to go. What’s mine is yours as you know. Stay safe and I’ll be back in a little while.”

She watched as he headed to his room to change and leave for patrol. She heard the door click shut and the lock slide into place. The apartment was too silent around her. Without Jason, it felt lifeless. Looking at herself in the mirror she could see the shadows in her mind creeping back in, the ones that haunted her dreams at night and her mind sometimes during the day.

Standing she forced the shadows back and grabbed some cash before heading down to the street below to hail a cab.

Bruce was sitting in front of the bank of computers when the elevator doors to the Batcave opened. Assuming it was Alfred coming down with snacks he said, “Riddler is up to something again. It looks like Jason is handling it though.”

“Could he use some backup?” Bruce turned and saw Y/N standing there a bit awkwardly. How long had it been since she had stepped foot in the Batcave? Too long, Bruce couldn’t recall the last time he had seen her standing there.

“Y/N, this is a surprise, I didn’t think you’d want to step foot back in here.” He stood and made his way over to her. “To what do I owe the pleasure?”

She rubbed her arms nervously, “I need the Blackbird suit….”

He eyed her, “Does this mean you want to come back?” He didn’t know why else she would want the suit unless she was making a comeback as Blackbird.

“I don’t know, but I do know I can’t just sit around Jason’s any longer or I’ll go mad. And I don’t have another suit with me. I figured you would have kept it, maybe even made upgrades in case I ever did decide to come back.” Bruce kept all the suits he and the others had ever worn. It wouldn’t surprise her one bit if he still had hers.

He motioned for her to follow him, “I still have it and you are right there are a few adjustments to it, but I don’t want you to put it on if you don’t think you can handle it. That suit holds a lot of bad memories for you, and no one would begrudge you if you didn’t want to don it again.”

They paused in front of what looked like a solid wall of rock and Bruce pressed some buttons on a keypad to reveal a vault filled with a room of suits that his team and he wore. She stepped inside and took it all in. “I’ve been hiding in the shadows for so long, harboring my pain and suffering, never thinking I could get better. I’ve been wallowing in my own pity and despair that I forgot who I was.” She came to a stop in front of a suit that she had once worn. The material was all black, with the outline of a raven on the chest, the mask made to look like wings. “I can’t let Joker win like this. Jason didn’t,” her voice was soft as she spoke. She could still hear the gun going off, feel the pain as the bullet ripped through her. If she had just been more careful she wouldn’t have needed the Lazarus Pit, she wouldn’t have gone mad, she wouldn’t have--

She let the thought end there, she couldn’t think about what she had almost done.

Bruce watched her as she looked at her former suit. “Come with me,” he instructed after a moment. “You go by a new name now. Phantom, correct?”

“That’s just the name the media gave me,” she said as she trailed after Bruce. “I never really call myself that.”

“It suits you better than Blackbird though.” He stopped in front of another wall, this time the glass was foggy. “I had this made for you and I was going to send it to you at some point, but something told me to hold off and I’m a little glad I did.” He hit a button and revealed a suit that was black with silver designs almost like smoke on the sleeves and legs of the suit. “You deserve something that fits your new identity.”

She lightly put her hand to the glass and looked at the suit, her breath caught in her throat. “I don’t know what to say,” she said at last. The oppressive feeling that she had when she had looked at the Blackbird suit lessened until it was no longer there.

“Don’t say anything. Just try it one and meet me back at the cave when you’re done.” He turned and left the room giving her a few minutes to absorb the new suit and decide what she was going to do.

When she returned she had on the Phantom suit and she looked calmer than she had when she had come in. “Thank you, Bruce.”

He tossed her the keys to one of the bikes, “Have her home in one piece.”

She snorted, “No promises.”

She hopped onto the back of the bike and sped off to go find Jason and bail him out of whatever trouble he had managed to get himself into without her.


	5. Chapter 5

_She wasn’t sure how she had gotten to the cabin. She wasn’t even sure how she had gotten up the mountain. Her lungs burned and every inch of her was shaking as if she had drunk too much coffee._

_There was so much blood. It stained her leather pants and her shirt. She was sure there was even some of it was in her hair and on her face. The worst was on her hands. They were drenched in blood. She couldn’t even see her skin beneath it. Most of it was dried, but there was some fresh running down her fingertips as if she had attacked something or someone with her bare hands. What had happened?_

_The only thing she knew was that it wasn’t her own blood. There was no pain and no gashes or bullet wounds. It was someone else’s._

_She crawled up the stairs of a lone cabin and landed on her knees with a soft thump. Bringing one of her blood-soaked hands up she knocked on the door. It felt like ages before he answered the door._

_“Y/N, oh my god,” Jason stared at his friend who he thought had died months prior. Now she looked as though she had walked off the Carrie movie set._

_“Jason,” she sobbed, relief washing through her, her tears creating runs in the blood on her face. “Help me,” was the last thing she said before she collapsed on the porch._

_Jason rushed to pick her up and carry her inside, not caring if the blood got on him._

Jason was in the middle of fighting off Riddler and his group of minions when a bike came screeching to a halt not far away. The rider leapt off of the bike and hit the first person she came to. She looked at Jason and said, “Need a hand Red?” That teasing smirk sent his heart racing and heat to rise to his cheeks. 

He couldn’t help the next word that slipped past his lips, “Blackbird?”

She _tsked_ and wagged a finger at him, “The name’s Phantom.” Then she kicked Riddler in the stomach and sent him sliding back against the pavement, groaning in pain. A laugh bubbled out of her as she turned to her next target and easily apprehended them as well.

She reminded him so much of how she used to be but there was a forcedness to her smile that he couldn’t see past. While she seemed to enjoy kicking some ass there was still a part of her that was holding back, that was worried about what coming back into the fold would do to her. Jason wanted to worry over her, but she was a big girl now and he knew she wouldn’t do anything she wasn’t ready for. And he didn’t have time to question her because the Joker was getting up and trying to escape while they were distracted with his henchmen.

Y/N seeing her prey try to escape vaulted over one of the henchmen and tackled Riddler to the ground. Jason knew something was going to be broken on Riddler before the evening was over. She wasn’t pulling her punches and she had a fondness for making things hurt.

Once the others had been taken care of and handed over to the GCPD Jason turned to Y/N and asked, “What are you doing here Phantom?”

“Thought you could use some help with patrol,” she dusted her hands off and came to stand beside him as she surveyed her handiwork. “So what do you say, Red? Need a hand?” Her eyes landed on him again and he knew there was no way that he could ever say no to her.

_Jason didn’t know what he was supposed to do. She was covered in so much blood, but he didn’t want to remove her clothes without her permission. He was going to have to remove them though so she wouldn’t freak out when she saw the blood staining them. He scooped her up and carried her into the guest room. From there he peeled off her shirt and pants, thankful that she had on a sports bra and underwear and that they had been spared from the bloody carnage on the rest of her._

_He tossed the clothes into the garbage bin, they were too stained to repair at this point. Then he grabbed a few towels and a bowl of water and gently washed the blood away from her skin. What had happened? There were no wounds on her so the blood wasn’t hers unless she could heal incredibly fast._

_Once she was free of blood he found an old pair of sweatpants and a shirt and slipped them on her and laid her in the bed. He brushed a kiss to her forehead and whispered, “Sleep well.” He glanced at her sleeping form one last time before exiting the room to give her space._

_A few hours passed before she stumbled out to where he was seated on his couch, bleary-eyed and still a bit tired. She had been confused for a moment before she realized she was at Jason’s cabin. She found him sitting in the living room with the fire going and a far-off look in his eyes. “Jason?”_

_He turned at the sound of her voice and quickly stood, “Hey, how are you feeling?”_

_She rubbed her arms, “I don’t know. I don’t remember much….”_

_Jason rounded the couch and came to a stop in front of her, “Why don’t we sit down and I’ll get something for you to eat?” She let him lead her over to the couch before he disappeared through the doorway that led to the kitchen. “Anything specific you want?” He called out to her._

_“No,” she called back. “Just food.” She felt her stomach growl and she brought her legs up to her chest so that she could rest her head on her knees._

_Jason came back as he left the soup on the stove to heat up, “Do you want me to call someone? Dick maybe?” He knew how close Y/N and Dick were and figured she would want to see him, someone familiar and comforting._

_Her eyes widened with fear and panic, she basically tackled Jason as she gripped his shirt between her fists. Her eyes were wild as she said, “Don’t call Dick!” Tears streamed down her cheeks and for the first time Jason was starting to understand just how truly broken his friend was. “Please don’t call Dick,” she stammered. “He can’t know. He can’t know the horrible things I did.”_

_“I thought you said you didn’t remember much,” Jason hedged softly._

_Y/N looked away, she hadn’t been lying. There were things she couldn’t remember, but she could remember the horrible ones. “I did something horrible,” her voice was soft as the words escaped her. “Something unforgivable.”_

_“Tell me,” he took her hands in his. “You can tell me anything.”_

_She took in a stuttering breath, “I killed so many people. They were there and then I drew a sword…. I don’t even know where it is now, I must have lost it somewhere in all the carnage because at some point I started using my bare hands.” Her strength hadn’t surprised her at the time, but now she was horrified by it. How she had just torn through the people like some wild beast. “All I know was there was this need to… to kill. I wanted to rip them limb from limb and I did. I can still see the fear in their eyes.”_

_Jason hated seeing how broken she was over this. This once vibrant woman broken before his very eyes. Seeing her dreams crushed and buried. “Y/N, how are you alive?”_

_Her hand drifted up to her chest where the scar was from the bullet, “They took me to a Lazarus Pit.”_

_Jason stood up, “They what?!”_

_She nodded her head, “They took me to a Lazarus Pit and resurrected me. I don’t remember much after that.”_

_A timer went off and Jason quickly got the soup and brought it back to her. He watched her eat in silence and then led her back to the bedroom he had left her in earlier. “Get some rest, I have somewhere I need to be, but I’ll be back in a few hours. You’ll be safe here.”_

_“Safe,” she mumbled as she curled up under the covers and closed her eyes._

_Jason grabbed his jacket and made sure the house was locked up tight so that no one could get in and she couldn’t get out in case she had another break and went on a killing spree. He didn’t think she would, the Pit’s effects seemed to have worn off and she was returning to a semi-normal state._

_He drove to Gotham and stormed into the Batcave and grabbed Bruce by the lapels of his jacket, “The Lazarus Pit? Are you insane?!”_

_“Jason!” Barbara pulled him off of Bruce. “What the hell is wrong with you?”_

_Jason’s furious gaze made Barbara shrink back slightly, “He took Y/N to a Lazarus Pit!” He turned his gaze back to Bruce, “What the hell were you thinking?”_

_Bruce looked unruffled like he always did, but Jason could see the worry in his eyes. He had gotten good at reading Bruce’s emotions through his eyes over the years. “Where is she?”_

_“Safe, unlike she is when she’s with you apparently.” He took a few steps away from Bruce so he didn’t wind up hitting him. “She was covered in blood when she showed up on my doorstep and at first I thought it was hers, but no, she killed people. And she’s broken because of it because of the horrors she committed. She said she ripped people apart with her bare hands, Bruce. The Pit did a little more to her than it ever did to me.”_

_“Let me see her,” Bruce insisted. “Let me make sure she’s all right.”_

_“No,” Jason’s voice was harsh. “You are the last person Y/N needs to see right now. She’ll be safe with me. The worst of the symptoms are over and she needs time to adjust. Once I feel like she’s better I will ask her if she wishes to see you, but not before.”_

_“Jason?” The three of them turned to see Dick standing in the elevator, none of them realizing he had come in. “What’s wrong?” Dick looked rough, his beard hadn’t been shaved and his hair desperately needed a brush._

_Jason remembered how frantic Y/N had looked when he mentioned calling Dick to her. “Nothing, just came for a visit. I was leaving.” He turned to get back on his bike, but Bruce stopped him._

_“Jason wait, I have some things of yours that I’ve been meaning to give you. If you’ll come with me.” Bruce headed toward the elevator where Dick was still standing. “Dick, Barbara could use your help going through all the files and organizing them.”_

_“Oh, okay,” he said a bit shocked but complied with Bruce’s wishes._

_The elevator ride was quiet on the way up to the living quarters of the mansion, but when they made it to Y/N’s room Bruce said, “I’ve been looking for her ever since she went missing. I knew the risks of taking her to the Lazarus Pit, but I couldn’t lose her. We thought she would be okay that things would be okay, but we were clearly wrong.” He picked a bag off her bed and handed it to Jason. “Here are some of her clothes and personal items.”_

_Jason took the bag and nodded his head, “She doesn’t want Dick to know. She freaked out when I mentioned calling him. So for now just keep it on the DL that she’s alive.”_

_“I will,” Bruce promised._

_They went back down to the Batcave and Jason left quickly, not wanting to talk to Dick. He wasn’t sure he could look him in the eyes knowing that Y/N was alive and knowing what she had done. He knew Dick would want to rush to her side, but that wasn’t what she needed. She needed space and someone that wasn’t going to coddle her like a child._

_When he returned to his home he discovered that she was still asleep under the covers so he left her bag on the dresser and headed to his own room to sleep off the rest of the day._

They were sitting on the roof together looking over Gotham, “I never thought I’d come back here let alone be donning a costume again.” Her voice was soft and she never turned her attention away from the car lights as they traveled down the main stretches of road that crisscrossed across the city.

They had taken out a few muggers and some back alley thieves before coming to relax on the rooftops and watch the city pass them by. It was a slow night in Gotham which Jason was thankful for, he wanted to check in with her and see how she was feeling.

“Why did you don a new costume?” He knew that when she was in Preston she just wore a hoodie and a simple mask to cover her face. She wasn’t doing it to be noticed or for media attention, she just wanted the city to be safe from the bad people who were there to mess it up.

She shrugged her shoulders, “I got tired of hiding I guess.”

“Y/N if you think that you’re going to backslide then I don’t think that this is–”

She pressed a finger to his lips and looked over at him, “I want my life back. These last few days with you and even seeing Bruce again showed me that I wasn’t living. Hell even Dick showing up on my doorstep showed me that I’d been hiding because I was scared of what people would think of me and all the shit I did when I came back from the Pit. I can’t change what I did, and I know that it wasn’t truly me who killed those people, it was whatever the Pit did to me.”

Jason hesitated, “Does this mean that you’re going to give Dick a chance?”

She shook her head, “I still need space from Dick to figure out who I am now in this new light.”

“But no more hiding?”

“No more hiding,” she said with a smile. “For the first time in years I feel free.”

Jason pulled her into his arms and hugged her, “I’m glad.”

“Me too, Jason, me too.” Then she stood, her smile turning into more of a smirk and she said, “Ready for another round? See how many bad guys we take out, loser buys dinner?”

Jason rose to his feet, “You’re on, Phantom.” And together they leapt across rooftops and into the alleyways below.

**NEW HERO IN GOTHAM? WHO IS THIS NEW MASKED AVENGER?**

_Victoria Vale_

_Last night, as Red Hood was stopping a robbery from happening a new masked vigilante, arrived on the scene to help him. Witnesses claimed to hear Red Hood call her Blackbird, but she claimed to be called Phantom._

_For the readers who don’t know who Blackbird is, she was once part of the so-called “Bat Family” and was murdered by the Joker. For years she was believed to be dead, but could Blackbird be back and donning a new name?_

_Is Phantom someone who eerily resembles the fallen hero? When will we see more of Phantom?_

Dick read the news clipping that Damian had sent him with the message ‘Know her?’ attached to it. He couldn’t believe his eyes as he stared at the article. There were no pictures of the so-called vigilante that was helping Jason, but he knew that people in Preston had called her Phantom. 

What the hell was she doing in Gotham and why was she with Jason?


End file.
